Irony alert: O.J. in his first interview after leaving prison says Colin Kaepernick ‘made a mistake’

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O.J. Simpson, left, says Colin Kaepernick, right, made a “mistake” when he began his protest of police violence against African Americans by taking a knee during the nationanl anthem at National Football League games. (Wire archive photos)

O.J. Simpson, in his first interview since leaving prison, told the Buffalo News that former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made a mistake “in attacking the flag.”

Says the man who willingly participated in the “If I Did It” travesty.

Kaepernick kneeled down as the national anthem was played before 49ers games in 2016 to protest police brutality against people of color. His contract expired at the end of that season. He has not played since; no team will touch him.

Simpson? You’d think he would have surrendered the moral high ground after being tried for murder and being convicted of kidnaping and robbery. But no.

Simpson’s comments were part of an hours-long, wide-ranging interview distilled into a 4,800-word story. His views on Kaepernick are probably of most interest to those Bay Area residents who witnessed the full, spellbinding, horrifying, pitiful O.J. Simpson experience.

“I really appreciate what he was trying to say,” Simpson told the News. “I thought he made a bad choice in attacking the flag.”

Completely lost on Simpson is that Kaepernick’s gesture had nothing to do with the flag. He knelt during the national anthem in the kind of peaceful protest and free expression the flag guarantees. He wasn’t attacking the flag. He was availing himself of it.

“I grew up at a time when deacons were in the KKK,” Simpson said. “I don’t disrespect the Bible because of those guys. The flag shouldn’t be disrespected because of what cops do. The flag represents what we want America to be.

“When (Kaepernick) did it the first time, I thought, ‘Well, you took a gamble, and I give you credit.’ But it was him continuing to do it where he made the biggest mistake. I’m a firm believer of doing what you think is right, but I would always stand for the flag.”

Again… oh, never mind.

It makes perfect sense that Simpson would be unable to relate how Kaepernick felt and what Kaepernick did. Kaepernick knew he would make people uncomfortable, and he did. He must have known he could suffer professionally from his actions. He felt so strongly about his convictions that he protested anyway.

Such a thing would never have occurred to Simpson. There was too much fame and fortune to be had as the first African-American crossover celebrity in American pop culture.

Full disclosure: My first year of covering the 49ers was Simpson’s last in the NFL. His world was unraveling. His left knee was shot, and he knew it. Bill Walsh was installing the West Coast offense. It was obvious Simpson wouldn’t be seeing the field much that season. He had just divorced his first wife. In August, his 23-month-old daughter drowned in a swimming pool.

And yet, he was unfailingly good spirited and congenial. I was 23, and to say there were stars in my eyes would be a raging understatement. His last game was in Atlanta. On the team charter the movie was, of course Simpson’s latest, “Goldie and the Boxer.” After the game, a separate room was set up for Simpson and all the reporters who were going to want to interview him. I had to squeeze past someone to get inside. That someone was Lee Majors, TV’s Six Million Dollar Man. Just hanging out.

For years I held Simpson up as the most accommodating, good-natured superstar I’d ever been around. And for years now, coming up on 24, I’ve held him up as the cautionary reminder that we don’t really know what any of these people are like when they’re out of the spotlight.

Here’s a guess about Simpson: He’s a sad case who can only relate to what he used to be.

Gary Peterson is a sports content creator for the Bay Area News Group. His prior assignments included 31 years as a sports columnist, serving as a general assignment news reporter, covering courts and writing a metro column before finding his way back to sports.